Alexandra Gilbreath

Alexandra Gilbreath (born 28 March 1969) is an English actress.

She was born in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Gilbreath is widely known for her work both on stage and onscreen (both film and television). She gained popularity with the Royal Shakespeare Company on such works as The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, The Tamer Tamed, and The Winter's Tale and Merry Wives: the Musical. She won the 1996 Ian Charleson Award for her performance in English Touring Theatre's Hedda Gabler.

Her work on the British television series Monarch of the Glen as Stella Moon brought her worldwide attention. Gilbreath's other television credits include episodes of Absolute Power, Midsomer Murders, The Commander, Casualty and Trial & Retribution. She is possibly best known to ITV audiences for playing the original Sun Hill Serial Killer Pat Kitson on The Bill. In 2006, she appeared in episode one of sitcom Not Going Out as depressed author Lucy Moss.

Midsummer

Midsummer, also known as St John's Day, or Litha, is the period of time centred upon the summer solstice, and more specifically the Northern European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice or take place on a day between June 19 and June 25 and the preceding evening. The exact dates vary between different cultures. The Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian martyr St John the Baptist, and the observance of St John's Day begins the evening before, known as St John's Eve.

These are commemorated by many Christian denominations. In Sweden the Midsummer is such an important festivity that there have been serious discussions to make the Midsummer's Eve into the National Day of Sweden, instead of June 6. It may also be referred to as St. Hans Day.

Background

European midsummer-related holidays, traditions, and celebrations are pre-Christian in origin. They are particularly important in geographic Northern Europe - Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – but is also very strongly observed in Poland, Russia, Belarus, Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, parts of the United Kingdom (Cornwall especially), France, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine, other parts of Europe, and elsewhere - such as Canada, the United States, Puerto Rico, and also in the Southern Hemisphere (mostly in Brazil, Argentina and Australia), where this imported European celebration would be more appropriately called "Midwinter".

A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream, a comedy believed to have been written by William Shakespeare between 1590 and 1597, portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors (the mechanicals) who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world.

Characters

The Athenians

DREAM Act

The DREAM Act (acronym for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) is an American legislative proposal for a multi-phase process for illegal immigrants in the United States that would first grant conditional residency and upon meeting further qualifications, permanent residency.

The bill was first introduced in the Senate on August 1, 2001, S. 1291 by Dick Durbin and Orrin Hatch, and has since been reintroduced several times (see legislative history) but has failed to pass.

Requirements for conditional resident status

After having obtained and held conditional resident status, permanent residency may be granted if the following requirements have been met in a period of six years.

Royal Shakespeare Company

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle upon Tyne and on tour across the UK and internationally.

The company’s home is in Stratford-upon-Avon, where it has recently redeveloped its Royal Shakespeare and Swan theatres as part of a £112.8-million "Transformation" project. The theatres re-opened in November 2010, having closed in 2007. The new buildings attracted 18,000 visitors within the first week and received a positive media response both upon opening, and following the first full Shakespeare performances. Performances in Stratford-upon-Avon continued throughout the Transformation project at the temporary Courtyard Theatre.

As well as the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, the RSC produces new work from living artists and develops creative links with theatre-makers from around the world, as well as working with teachers to inspire a lifelong love of William Shakespeare in young people and running events for everyone to explore and participate in its work.